Fare freeze? Conservative con!

10 April 2015

Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, has described the ‘fares freeze’ outlined by David Cameron’s Conservatives today as ‘a con.’

Mick said: ‘What a con! The Conservatives are saying they are guaranteeing a fare freeze and it is nothing of the sort. What they are actually guaranteeing is a fare rise which will, as always with the Tories, hit the poorest the hardest.

‘The devil, with David Cameron, is always in the detail. So let’s look at the details of the Conservative party leader’s announcement. What it actually guarantees is that regulated rail fares will rise in line with the retail price index for the next five years. That’s a rise the poorest people in Britain can ill afford but inline with a desire by the Conservatives, and the train companies, to price poor people off our railways.’